Monday, August 26, 2013

One of my favorite advertising mascots is good ol' Jifaroo! He was the kangaroo pitchman that helped sell Jif peanut butter back in the day. Jifaroo was introduced along with Jif peanut butter back in 1958 and disappeared sometime in the 1960s. I only know of of two Jifaroo premiums that were offered by Jif and one was a nifty kite. The other was a periscope and as luck would have it, I have one right here!

This was an in-store give-away item. You got a free Jifaroo Periscope when purchasing one jar of Jif!

Check it out! The periscope works great and I used it to look in our food pantry while hiding behind some flowers. I'm not sure why, but when you use a periscope you have to be sneaky.

Whoa! I spy an old Jif jar in our food pantry! Yep, that's the view inside the periscope.

Here's the jar from my collection with Jifaroo on the label. I believe this one is probably the 1958 version. The great thing about the periscope are the fun illustrations on the sides. Aren't they great!

That's it for my Jifaroo Periscope post! I really think that Jifaroo needs to make a comeback! C'mon Jif, let's have a retro jar with Jifaroo on the label! I'm sure the fun blue kangaroo would be a sales booster. Bring back Jifaroo!!!

Wednesday, August 21, 2013

It's that time of year when football fanatics and sports nerds unite to draft a team for their fantasy football leagues. This weekend I'll be getting together with my crew of friends for our FFL draft. Pretending to pick fictional football players from movies seems to be a recurring joke at our draft. This tireless joke inspired me to create some virtual trading cards of fake football players from real movies. (I'm more of a baseball fan, so I was in need of some motivation to get hyped up for football and this project was it!)

Okay, let's open the pack of ten Fantasy Film Football picture cards and see who we'll be drafting in our fantasy football league or sticking in-between bicycle spokes!

Wait a sec! How'd this card get in here? Looks like Uncle Rico's football dreams haven't ended. Apparently he dug out an old football card and taped his face and name onto it. Count this as a bonus chase card!

Friday, August 16, 2013

Lately, I've been missing out on a lot of fun assignments from the League of Extraordinary Bloggers. Today I finally found some time to jump on this week's assignment, Toy Knockoffs and Bootlegs! I have a Star Wars knockoff toy based after C-3PO and he's cringe worthy enough to be included.

This sad looking droid ripoff simply named Robot was made by Etone International out of Jersey City, New Jersey in 1978. I've nicknamed him C-P3O in honor of all the adults back in the day who were never able to say See-Threepio correctly. (Why was that so difficult? 70s kids never had that problem!)

Poor C-P3O sure is one sad looking and pathetic stuffed toy. I don't collect Star Wars knockoffs, but I must have felt sorry for this misfit toy. I rescued him many years ago from a dirt mall. He was stuck under a mountain of moldy stuffed animals and broken toys. I think I paid two dollars for him.

Even though he's a distant cousin to ol' golden rod from Star Wars, his demeanor reminds me of Marvin the Paranoid Android from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Just look at that long sad face. Is he depressed because he's not a real Star Wars character? Was he not loved by a child? Was he a carnival prize that was never won? Maybe he's down in the dumps simply because he's so cheaply sewn together? Whatever the reason for his mopes he probably should not be sporting this button on his chest.

I wonder how many times he has thought about pressing the destruct button? I'm worried that one of these days when I look on the shelf that he's displayed on, I'm going to see C-P3O turned inside-out with moldy fluff everywhere. "Hey pal, just say no to the button! Just say NO!!!"

Well...there you go. The saddest Star Wars knockoff toy ever produced. Maybe one of you Neato Readers can cheer him up in the comments section below. It's not his fault he was made into a Star Wars knockoff toy.

Don't let C-P3O get you down because there's a lot more knockoff fun. Click on the links below to see other posts from League members.

Tuesday, August 06, 2013

Today is a special day for a special person! It's my grandmother's 100th birthday!!

Me-Ma has always amazed me! For us grandkids and great-grandkids, she's always been a walking time machine. Besides being blessed with longevity, she's been blessed with a steel trap memory filled with vivid details. When she tells a story about the old days the listener is transported back to another era.

I love this photo from when she was a teenager. With her sister and friends, they would often visit the local photobooth and act like they were movie stars!

It's rare, but if she's not sure about a memory all she has to do is access one of her many scrapbooks, photo albums or diaries that she's kept since the 1930s. She's always believed in preserving the past, not dwelling on it, but keeping memories alive. (Anyone who reads this blog now knows where I get it!)

Me-Ma has always been a person who simply loves life and has always made the best of any situation. Many times the family has heard her say, "It's easier to smile than frown!" This attitude has served her well in raising a family, working at a doctor's office, volunteering in her community and even co-owning and managing a bowling alley. (See photo below!)

King Pin Lanes in Macon, MO.

This photo from when I was three is one of my favorites! (I would love to find that toy bus!)

Growing up, it was always a real treat when she came to visit or when we visited her. She usually had little trinket souvenirs from a her latest trip to give to us boys. Wow, a Mold-A-Rama alligator from Florida! Bicentennial maple candy from Pennsylvania! Disneyland Viewmaster from California! Plastic rockets from Kennedy Space Center! Sea Shells from the beach!!! I loved it when she brought stuff back from her trips and shared her travel adventures with us.

She made us a lot of stuff from sea shells and I still have my shell treasure box she gave us back in the 70s. (One of these days we might take a look at the trinkets inside!)

Travel isn't her only hobby. She's always enjoyed being crafty. This embroidered raccoon and squirrel hung on the wood paneling of my bedroom back in the 70s.

I'm a big fan of St. Louis Cardinals baseball. My whole family is! Our redbird love probably can be traced to Me-Ma. She cheers at the TV just like she's at the stadium and rarely misses a game. She became a fan when she and her mother would listen to the games in the 1920s & 30s taking notes and keeping score. Later that night when her dad came home from the coal mine, they would fill him in on what he missed in that day's game.

I could easily go on and on about how special she's been to our family. Last weekend when we had a big 100th birthday celebration, I was really touched to meet so many people from her community that let us know how special she is to them. I guess she's not just a Me-Ma, but more of a You-Ma!